Shange walking tall as he hunts down national record

Updated: May 2, 2013

Central Gauteng’s Lebogang Shange has won two major titles in the space of less than a week and now he has the South African walking record in his sights.

Shange, 23, won the 20km walk at SA Championships in Stellenbosch and travelled to Mauritius less than a week later where he also won the Africa Race Walking Championships.┬áAs the Africa champion and according to the IAAF criteria, he is now considered to have automatically qualified for the World Championships in Russia in August where he is hoping to break the SA record.

Winning the title was not the easiest task at hand.┬áAthletics South Africa did not select a team for the African Race Walking Championships, but this did not deter Shange from following his dream to win the title. ÔÇ£I knew that I could win this race, so when we realised that no team was going to be sent to Mauritius, we started making plans to go.ÔÇØ

Everything from buying air tickets to temporary passports was arranged in record time to enable him to compete at the Championships.

On the day of the competition, hot and humid weather played a role on performance. Said Shange.┬áÔÇ£I was extremely tired, but when I thought about my sponsor, my mentor and the trouble we had getting to Mauritius, I decided that I can’t let anybody else win the race.ÔÇØ

Shange pushed hard at the bell, increasing his lead over his opposition and crossed the line in 1hr 28min 31sec followed by Hassanine Sebei from Tunisia in 1:28:40.┬áÔÇ£I would have never been able to do it without my sponsor, coach and mentor Brenda Walkfer.ÔÇØ
Seeing race walking on TV was what inspired Shange to take up this sport instead of running.┬á ÔÇ£When I saw it I thought it would be much easier than running, so I decided to become a race walker.┬á Little did I know how difficult it was going to be since it is a very technical sport,ÔÇØ said Shange.┬áÔÇ£Race walking is a fantastic sport and I love it.┬áIt is extremely challenging and when one has completed a good training session or a good race, it makes you feel great.ÔÇØ

The youngster started race walking at the age of 18 and has gone from strength to strength in the past three years of his career. He won the SA Race Walking Championships over 20km in Cape Town in 2011 and 2012 and became SA champion at the SA Track and Field Championships for the second consecutive year over the same distance.┬áHe also represented South Africa at the World Race Walking Cup in Saransk, Russia in May 2012 where he finished 76th in 1:30:05.

Before the World Championships, Shange is hoping to travel to Leeds, England for three months to train with the British race-walking team as part of his preparation. ┬áShange trains 145km per week and has a special programme which he follows in order to achieve his goal of breaking the SA record for the 20km race walk.┬áThe current record (on the road) of 1:22:21 belongs to Chris Britz and has been standing since 11 May 1996 while the same record on the track of 1:24:51, by Stanley Valentine, has stood since 1 May 1989. Shange’s personal best is currently recorded at 1:25:48 at the SA Championships in Port Elizabeth on 14 April 2012.

He is now hoping to compete at the Gran Premio Cantones de la Coruna on 1 June followed by the 19th Dublin International Grand Prix of race walking on 29 June.

The only other walker to have reached the IAAF qualifying standard in race walking is the 50km race walker Marc Mundell with his performances at the World Race Walking Cup in Saranskas as well as the Olympic Games.┬áThe 29 year-old finished 26th in 3:57:57 in Saransk and improved that time to 3:55:32 in London.┬áBoth these African record performances count as qualifying times for the World Championships.